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Coral Species Report for Isopora Crateriformis

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Coral Species Report for Isopora Crateriformis LISTED CORALS IN THE INDO-PACIFIC Isopora crateriformis :: Biological Information MORPHOLOGY Pacific Islands Region Isopora crateriformis forms fattened solid encrusting plates. Colonies are brown in color and can sometimes be over 1 meter in diameter. When a colony occurs on a slope, the lower edge is usually lifed as a plate. Photos copyright: Douglas Fenner REPRODUCTION Te reproductive characteristics of Isopora crateriformis have not been determined, but other similar species of Isopora are simultaneous hermaphroditic (having both male and female gametes) brooders. Brooding species release sperm cells but fertilization of eggs occurs internally. :: Spatial Information GEOGRAPHIC RANGE Based on confrmed observations and strong predictions of occurrence in areas that have not yet been surveyed sufciently, Isopora crateriformis is likely distributed within the Coral Triangle area (the Philippines to Timor For more information contact: Leste and east to the Solomon Islands), plus some of the western Pacifc too, NMFS Pacifc Islands Regional Offce including New Caledonia, the Samoas, and the Marshall Islands. 1845 Wasp Blvd., Bldg. 176 Honolulu, HI 96818 Tel: 808-725-5000 Website: www.fpir.noaa.gov U.S. Department of Commerce | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration | NOAA Fisheries NOAA Fisheries | Listed Corals in the Indo-Pacific:Isopora crateriformis LEGEND Region with confrmed record of species occurrence Region with predicted record of species occurrence Region with published record of species occurrence that needs further investigation Region with no record of species occurrence Veron JEN, Stafford-Smith MG, Turak E and DeVantier LM (in prep.) Corals of the World www.coralsoftheworld.com OCCURRENCE IN U.S. JURISDICTIONS Isopora crateriformis has not yet been reported from Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), and the Pacifc Remote Island Areas (PRIA). Based on the information below we consider Isopora crateriformis to occur in American Samoa. American Samoa: Brainard et al. (2011) report that this species has been reported in American Samoa by a variety of sources. Veron (2014) reports it from “Samoa” which implies it is in American Samoa, since he writes that all species found in the Tuvalu-Samoa-Tonga ecoregion are in American Samoa. It is also reported from “Samoa” by Wallace (1999) and Wallace et al. (2012), but the exact location for the samples in the Museum of North Queensland that this is based on is almost certainly American Samoa. It was also reported by Craig et al. (2001), Maragos and Kenyon (2004), and Green et al. (2005), as well as Fenner (2013). It appears that in parts of Tutuila, American Samoa, it may be the most abundant of anywhere in its range. HABITAT TYPES AND DEPTH Isopora crateriformis’s predominant habitat is shallow, high-wave energy environments, including reef fats and lower reef crests, and it also occurs in adjacent habitats such as upper reef slopes. It has been reported from low tide to at least 12 meters deep, and may occur in mesophotic depths (<50 meters). :: Demographic Information RELATIVE LOCALIZED ABUNDANCE Relative localized abundance refers to how commonly a species is observed on surveys in a localized area. Veron (2014) reports that Isopora crateriformis occupied 0.3 percent of 2,984 dive sites sampled in 30 ecoregions of the Indo- Pacifc. It was given an abundance rating on a scale of 1 (low) to 5 (high) at each site where it occurred, based on how common it was at that site. Isopora crateriformis had a mean abundance rating of 1.4. Based on this semi-quantitative system, the species’ abundance was characterized as “rare.” However, this rating could be an underestimate, as most coral abundance surveys are mostly carried out on reef slopes, which can signifcantly underestimate the abundance of species such as Isopora crateriformis that are more common on reef fats than reef slopes. Isopora crateriformis also is more abundant in American Samoa than in other parts of its range. U.S. Department of Commerce | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration | NOAA Fisheries NOAA Fisheries | Listed Corals in the Indo-Pacific:Isopora crateriformis ABSOLUTE OVERALL ABUNDANCE Absolute overall abundance refers to a rough qualitative minimum estimate of the total number of colonies of a species that currently exist throughout its range. Tese estimates were calculated based on results from Richards et al. (2008) and Veron (2014). Te absolute abundance of Isopora crateriformis is likely at least millions of colonies. :: Why is this Species Threatened? Isopora crateriformis is susceptible to the three major threats identifed for corals including ocean warming, disease, and ocean acidifcation, as well as many of the other threats to corals. A signifcant proportion of its current known geographic range is within the Coral Triangle area. Tis area is projected to have the most rapid and severe impacts from climate change and localized human impacts for coral reefs over the 21st century. Multiple ocean warming events have already occurred within the western equatorial Pacifc (which includes the Coral Triangle area) that suggest future ocean warming events may be more severe than average in this part of the world. A range constrained mostly to this particular geographic area that is likely to experience severe and increasing threats, combined with local occurrence categorized as rare, indicates that a high proportion of the population of this species is likely to be exposed to those threats over the foreseeable future. Tis, in combination with its other biological, demographic, and spatial characteristics, contributes to a risk of extinction within the foreseeable future for Isopora crateriformis. Literature Cited Brainard, R. E., C. Birkeland, C. M. Eakin, P. McElhany, M. W. Miller, M. Patterson, and G. A. Piniak. 2011. Status review report of 82 candidate species petitioned under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS‐PIFSC‐27. 530 pp. Craig, P., C. Birkeland, and S. Belliveau. 2001. High temperatures tolerated by a diverse assemblage of shallow-water corals in American Samoa. Coral Reefs 20: 185-189. Fenner, D. 2013. Field guide to the Coral Species of the Samoan Archipelago: American Samoa and (independent) Samoa. Version 1.0. Dept. Marine & Wildlife Resources, American Samoa. pdf. 422 pp. Green, A., K. Miller, and C. Mundy. 2005. Long term monitoring of Fagatele Bay National Marine Sanctuary, Tutuila, American Samoa: results of surveys conducted in 2004, including a re-survey of the historic Aua Transect. Report prepared for the U.S. Dept. of Commerce and the American Samoa Government. 93 pp. Maragos, J. and J. Kenyon. 2004. Rose Atoll coral data compiled from US Fish and Wildlife Service 1994 “Townsend Cromwell” 2002 and “Sette” 2004 surveys. http://hercules.kgs.ku.edu/hexacoral/anemone2/reference_detail.cfm?ref_number=1934&type=Unpublish. Richards, Z. T., M. J. H. van Oppen, C. C. Wallace, B. L. Willis, and D. J. Miller. 2008. Some Rare Indo-Pacifc Coral Species Are Probable Hybrids. PLoS ONE 3(9):e3240. Veron, J. E. N. 2014. Results of an update of the Corals of the World Information Base for the Listing Determination of 66 Coral Species under the Endangered Species Act. Report to the Western Pacifc Regional Fishery Management Council, Honolulu. Wallace, C. C. 1999. Staghorn corals of the world: a revision of the coral genus Acropora (Scleractinia; Astrocoeniina; Acroporidae) worldwide, with emphasis on morphology, phylogeny and biogeography. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Australia. Wallace, C. C., Done, B. J., and Muir, P. R. (2012) Revision and catalog of worldwide staghorn corals Acropora and Isopora (Scleractinia: Acroporidae) in the Museum of Tropical Queensland. Memoires of the Queensland Museum/Nature 57: 1-255. U.S. Department of Commerce | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration | NOAA Fisheries.
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